Sleepless Nights
by FlamingMarsmellow aka Mreader
Summary: A descision is made, setting off a chain of events that would spiral out of control, with Matthew and Alfred at the centre. Loyalties will be tested, and only one thing is certian; that nothing will ever be the same again. M for Violence and Gore.


Hello everyone! Flamingmarsmellow aka Mreader here, (though I'll stick with Mreader, makes all our lives easier ;P) I just have a few important things to say before we dive in the story!  
**This story is a colab between myself and the wonderful Sybil Corvax**, so yes! Check out some of her other stories, they're good!

Attention anyone easily offended/sticklers for detail! This story's events are, obviously, very AU. (And will stay that way... I hope ._.) The characters remain true to their history and all that, save for minor details we've interpreted our own way. One last thing: **All political leaders in this story are unspecified for a reason. They're no one in praticular. Seriously.** If you want them to be someone current, have fun with that. But really, no events/actions were based off of a political leader's character, so no offense is meant.

BTW, Neither Hetalia nor it's characters belong to us. Just the plot, lol XP

Another BTW, Human and country names are used.

Matthew Williams / "Mattie" = Canada

Alfred F. Jones = United States of America / America

Arthur Kirkland / "Iggy" = England

Thanks, enjoy the story!

* * *

The room was silent. The men looked at each other warily, shadows dancing across their tired, stress-lined faces. Their leader stared at them, resolute. His ice-cold eyes seemed to pierce through each of them, searching for traitors. No one flinched.

"Are we agreed, then?"

There was a general murmuring of uneasiness throughout the men. One finally spoke.

"What about... _Him? _Even if we become the most powerful leaders in the world, if he-"

"Jones will not be able to stop us until it is too late. He is only as strong as his citizens, after all." The leader cut off, sounding almost amused as he said it.

The man shivered.

"But America _is_ strong... He will be so angry."

"Enough" Came the stern reply.

"Do not worry. I will deal with him."

* * *

Alfred F. (?) Jones bounced slightly on the balls of his feet, grinning like a maniac. His blue eyes shined from behind the thin frames of his glasses, and he leaned back to take a deep breath.

"MATTIE!" He called out merrily, pounding on the door. "YOU THERE?"

It was way too early for this, the personification of Canada decided. His hair was all about, his glasses slightly skewed and he had to fix them before he opened the door to glare in faint annoyance at his brother.

"What do you want, Alfred?"

The white furry ball of polar bear sat down by his ankles.

"To hang out and stuff, that's what!" The personification of the United States of America grinned, unperturbed by the less-than-warm welcome.

"C'mon Mattie! You can't stay cooped up all by yourself in the frozen tundra like this! It's not healthy! Or fun!"

"...it's the middle of summer, Alfred." Matthew replied simply, sighing heavily.

"Besides, it's seven o'clock in the morning...you woke me up."

"Meh, sorry." Alfred answered, not looking very apologetic.

"So you goin' to let me in anytime soon?"

Matthew sighed heavily and slumped as he stepped aside.

"Come in..."

Alfred beamed and strode in, a skip in his step.

"Alright!"

Matthew sighed heavily again and dragged his feet inside after he closed the door. Then he slumped onto the couch and groaned.

Alfred plopped down next to him, almost bouncing his brother right off the seat.

"What's the matter?" He asked, looking a bit confused. Then his face changed to horror.

"Oh no! Was I too late? Have you been here too long without the heroic ME! to keep you company?" Alfred struck a pose despite himself, looking far too hyper.

Matthew gave Alfred an unimpressed look.

"No, Alfred. I'm fine." He sighed heavily, shaking his head.

Alfred deflated a bit at the unenthusiastic response.

"Huh... you sure?"

"Yeah." The Canadian mumbled faintly, forcing himself to smile.

"Are you hungry? I'll make pancakes."

Alfred's eyes got a bit wide at this and his shining grin returned full force.

"Hell Yeah! That'd be awesome!"

Matthew laughed lightly and stood himself up before leading the way to the kitchen.

"Alright then." He said softly.

"I'll make some."

Alfred practically bounced as he followed Matthew. It was a little known fact that Alfred absolutely LOVED Matthew's pancakes. On his list of favorite foods, they ranked just under Hamburgers, and that was a pretty impressive feat, considering how long of a list that was.

Matthew laughed lightly and shook his head, smiling a little as he got down to cooking the pancakes. Soon enough, a plate of eight of them was set down in front of Alfred.

"There you go.."

Alfred immediately dug into them, barely pausing to let out a muffled sound that might've been a "Thanks". One couldn't be sure.

Matthew stared at his brother before sighing and shaking his head, sitting down at the table after feeding Kuma-whatshisname. He didn't have any pancakes of his own, but he wasn't feeling terribly well either.

In the meantime, Alfred swallowed the last of his pancakes, sighing in satisfaction.

"Mattie, those pancakes were AWESOME!" Alfred declared happily.

Matthew smiled almost weakly and nodded.

"I'm glad you liked them, Alfred."

Alfred grinned and leapt out of his chair, looking energized.

"Hey Mattie, let's go paintballing or something!"

"I don't know, Alfred. You always get upset when I beat you." Matthew murmured faintly.

"Or maybe we should just play some video games" Alfred said loudly, trying to ignore his brother's (unfortunately true) comment.

"We could." Matthew mused faintly.

"If you really want to. I don't really care either way."

"Alright!" Alfred practically skipped over to the Canadian's living room, then knelt down to rummage through the stash of games he found there.

"Hmm, what should we play?"

"It doesn't matter what you choose, I'm going to win." Matthew sighed faintly with a slightly playful smile as he sat himself back down on the couch.

"No you're not!" Alfred replied indignantly, still flipping through the games. "Halo! Haven't played that in a while, what do you think?" Then without waiting for an answer, he continued.

"Halo it is!"

The blond-haired man leapt up, game in hand, and inserted it into the consol. He grabbed a control for himself and threw another to his brother.

"Let's do this!" He cheered, bouncing down on the couch.

Matthew snorted faintly and took the controller before leaning back on the couch.

"Alright. Let's see how this turns out, eh?"

For the next couple of hours the brothers battled each other fiercely, the air between them filled with banter and war cries. They each pulled out all stops to down the other.

Finally, hours later, the battles came to an end, Matthew smiling in victory while Alfred grumbled about good luck and winning next time.

Matthew good-naturedly patted his brother on the back.

"Don't worry too much about it, Alfred. I didn't expect you to win. I'm an awesome sniper, remember?" He didn't expect him to though.

"But I'm the hero!" Alfred protested back, though he didn't seem as upset as before. He also seemed to glaze right over Mathew's last comment.

"Heroes are supposed to win."

"You win at other things. You can't win at everything." Matthew said softly, speaking from some experience.

"I DO win at other things, don't I." Alfred said happily, pushing the loss behind him.

"You do." Matthew murmured softly, sighing.

"Now...are you ready to go home yet?"

Alfred opened his mouth to answer.

Right on que, the _Star Spangled Banner_ began to play, the sound originating from one of his pockets. He pulled it out and flipped it open, grin still on his face.

"Ya, Alfred here."

He listened for a bit, then said, "Ya, I'm at Mattie's ...Canada, you know?"

He listened a little more, then made a face.

"Ok, ok, I'm coming. Jeeze."

He turned back to Matthew, looking morose.

"I gotta go, Mattie. My boss wants me to look over the new health bill..._again."_

Matthew was quiet and though he had wanted Alfred to leave before, now that he was leaving, he felt extremely empty on the inside. He smiled weakly.

"Then go. That bill is rather important." He said softly.

"It's stupid." Alfred said bluntly.

"Everyone knows it. I'm not cut out for this." He grumbled a little, standing up from the couch.

Matthew sighed faintly.

"It's not stupid if it's going to work. Universal healthcare works for me, England, and a lot of others as well." He told his brother.

"Mattie, it's a COMMUNIST! thing to do! And... it's not worded right. My boss keeps fixing it and says it'll be great, but..." Alfred trailed off, looking frustrated. The whole issue had been driving him crazy. His people were in two different opinions on the matter, which didn't help much.

Matthew fell silent, looking almost slightly hurt before he sighed.

"... It just doesn't seem right, Mattie. It leaves people out. Some of my people are telling me weird things like how your system is better, and we didn't even release the bill yet!" Alfred pouted a little, but his eyes were serious.

"Alfred, if it doesn't work at first, they'll fix it." Matthew said softly.

"You can't expect everything to run perfectly immediately, right?"

Alfred grumbled something along the lines of how it should if it's his country.

His phone buzzed in his hand, and he glanced at it.

"It's my boss again... I guess I'll see you later, Mattie. Let's hang out again soon, huh?" He grinned, trying to push away his annoyance.

Matthew smiled weakly and waved.

"S- see you soon..." He murmured softly - though he doubted it in all honesty.

With one last yell of goodbye followed by a quick grin, the superpower was gone, leaving behind only a game controller and a dirty plate in the kitchen as proof he'd been there at all.

Matthew felt extremely empty after that and not even a nudge from Kumajirou honestly made him feel better. Perhaps he had complained earlier, but he really had enjoyed Alfred's company. Now, he just felt lonely.

"...I guess I should tidy up..." He murmured weakly, making an attempt to stand up, but was stopped by a sudden pain in his chest.

He cried out loudly and Kumajirou squirmed away as the personification of Canada stumbled and gripped at his chest. Pulling his hand back, he whimpered faintly and covered his mouth as a bubbling cough spilled from his mouth, traces of blood going with it.

"M- maple..." He whimpered, eyes rolling to the back of his head as he collapsed, skull hitting the coffee table as he fell unconscious.

* * *

Alfred ran his hand through his hair for what felt like the hundredth time, growling at the innocent looking sheets spread out in front of him. He really, REALLY didn't like this bill, if for no other reason than how irritating it was to go through it. He hadn't felt this conflicted about a bill since he was pushing for the declaration of independence, damn it, even if that had been more stressful. He felt insulted just making the comparison.

He grumbled to himself, unafraid of anyone hearing and looking at him strangely. He was alone in the room. The president had excused himself almost as soon as Alfred had arrived, saying something about 'other work' and how he'd give Alfred time to 'read it over'. Guh. He hated reading things over. That was what his government employees were for.

His hissed, a sharp pain bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Wha..?" He looked down in disbelief as a deep gash appeared in the palm of his right hand.

"New York?" He gasped in confusion, jumping to his feet. He felt some more of his people die and gritted his teeth, pulling out his cell and hitting the speed dial. It immediately connected to the president's office.

"Alfre-"

"No time." The personification of the United States cut off his boss, speaking quickly.

"We're being attacked, its New York, from Massena to Ogdensburg. Get people there _**now.**_"

There was a silence on the other end, then his boss spoke once more, voice low and urgent.

"What do you mean _from_ Massena to Ogdensburg, America? And when was the attack? I haven't received any-" The voice paused, and Alfred shifted impatiently as he listened to the commotion on the other end. His boss came back on.

"Alfred, don't do anything. We just received the news. Stay where you are, that's an order. We'll send someone over to check on you. In the meantime, I'll handle this."

Alfred held himself still, every inch of his body screaming for him to go out there and find the perpetrator himself. He hissed slightly as his wound opened up more, blood steadily dripping down his arm and onto the pristine carpet below. But he didn't leave the room.

"...Ok." He muttered. He knew that he could end up in the way if the attack got worse like it had on 911. He shuddered a little.

He hoped it wouldn't get that bad.

"I'll call you as soon as we know more." His boss assured him. Then the line went dead.

America stared at the phone for a moment, then over to his hand.

He ripped off part of his shirt and used it as a bandage, ignoring how the blood quickly welled up and saturated it. It wasn't that big of a wound, but something horrible was nagging at the back of his mind.

He felt like he had overlooked something important. Something related to this incident. Whatever it was made dread form in the pit of his stomach.

Before he could think about this further, his phone rang, his sweet anthem filling the air. He quickly flipped it open, pressing it to his ear. "Alfred here."

"Alfred! What the _**bloody hell **_is going on?" A familiar voice hissed out.

Alfred relaxed a little. "Iggy! I dunno, I just got attacked in New York and my boss made me stay in one place so I haven't gotten to check the news or anything." He almost whined at the end, but the deaths of his citizens kept him serious.

"What's the news say?"

There was a pause on the other end, then, almost cautiously.

"Didn't you hear, Alfred?"

"...Hear what?" Alfred asked somewhat nervously, studying his hand. The niggling feeling came back. Something about New York... What was it about that state was he forgetting?

"Alfred... Mathew's been bombed... Badly. From what the news is saying, Toronto's in ruins and Ottawa's... Ottawa's barely more than a pile of rubble." There was a pause, then Arthur continued, sounding increasingly upset.

"There were reports about other places in the country being hit too, this whole mess is a bloody nightmare, no one knows who did it... Alfred? Alfred, are you there? Tell me what's going on!"

"..." Alfred felt like the bottom had dropped out from under him. Panic closed in on all sides and he began to feel sick. He knew what he had forgotten now.

"New York." He whispered through numb lips, eyes wide and face pale.

"...New York?" England questioned in confusion and worry.

America jerked a little, surprised he'd said it out loud.

"New York... New York is ... _**right beside Canada**_."

He dropped the phone and bolted out the doors.

* * *

And so the first Chapter is done! ^-^

Updates will be fairly regular, so no worries~

~Mreader ^-^

With love from Sybil Corvax, too, lol 'cause she isn't here right now so I get to speak for her. Bwahahahaha! XP


End file.
